Following a good deal of thought and consideration and after 21 years of (mostly) enjoyment I have decided to close ERE as a medium for supporters of Bath Rugby to share their passion outside match days.

Iíve told Sportnetwork I'm happy for them to keep ERE going for a couple of weeks to think about how (or if) they wish to cover Bath Rugby on their network but they should then remove ERE as an on-going operational site.

Iím very grateful to a lot of people, too many to mention here in full, but theyíll know who they are because they made ERE what it was during its heyday. From the earliest magazines (a very loose description) with my mate Clive and then on my own with a very basic ERE 2000 website, through the Rivalsí period and then on to Sportnetwork, a company whoíve been great to work with.

Various participants in our many debates have come, gone (sometimes with a hissy fit, sometimes with dignity and sometimes slipping quietly out the back door) or stayed. In the main the discussions have greatly added to (the not always pleasurable task of) being a Bath Rugby supporter.

Friendships have been made as a result of ERE and I know there are a lot of positives to come from the idea Clive and I had for a Bath FC (as it was then) supporters' community all those years ago. Weíve lost several close friends since the website has been running and this was when we were at our best as a community: grieving as one and thinking about those hurting most.

I wonít dwell on the negatives to come from ERE because we know what they are, although Iím grateful that a small minority of users made my decision to close the site so much easier. All I ask is certain behaviours are not replicated on a new site because you wonít know what youíre missing until itís gone.

My life has changed in recent years as has my commitment to supporting Bath Rugby and itís taken me many years to fully appreciate what my lovely wife Lyn always says when Iím getting wound up by a poor performance: ďItís only a game, try to enjoy it!Ē.

Good luck to everyone as you continue to support Bath Rugby and thank you for your support. I know I'll never forget how much ERE (mostly) enriched my life.

Regards

Glen (the ex-Ed)

Chatting about Bath on Twitter? Use the #BRERE hashtag so we can find each other!

I have been a Bath supporter since 1985. STH up to 2010 and now live in Oregon USA. This I think is my first ever post but it is justified if this is to be the end of ERE I still follow the ERE site but agree that the threads of late have deteriorated into personal attacks and non rugby related matter that is irrelevant to the majority and detracts from the content that was all about our beloved Bath Rugby. I will miss the site but will continue to support the club through thick and thin good times and bad as a true supporter should. We are all allowed our views and I hope everyone involved understands that. Thanks to Glen for keeping this going for such a long time with (mostly) great content and banter.

And much as I regret ERE closing, the perpetual bickering, abuse and obscure fixations between a few threaders have become increasingly banal. Debate and disagreement is essential, however so is respect and tolerance. The latter have sadly been in short measure this season.

Glen thank you so much for ....well so much really. ERE has given me so much, my love of Bath Rugby for one, the sense of community even from afar (oop north),the chance to meet some fantastic people and I still hope to meet some more of you when I get the chance to go to matches again.
I am nattycap on twitter too so feel free to keep in touch those of you I have met and chatted to over the years
Thank you for all the energy you have put in to ERE Glen

I totally understand your decision. It's just very sad. This makes two Bath forums (the offy and this one) that have closed in the last year, both of which had degenerated into slanging matches in their last few months. I hope the main protagonists in the degeneration take a long look at themselves and realise how their pettiness & ego has ruined something unique, something that when I was an active participant enhanced my life both online and offline. I, like many others, have been more of an infrequent visitor of late, but I'll still miss this place, if not all the recent posters. See you on Twitter!

IMHO the enrichment you have gained from ERE is as nothing to the enrichment gained by the ERE community on whose behalf you have valiantly kept the medium going for so long. We owe you a HUGE vote of thanks!

I am very sorry to see ERE close and echo the sentiments of TRG above.

I hope that this is a wake up call to the "slangers" and that a new forum will be started to carry on the great community we had only a couple of seasons ago.

Glen, would you be able to explain how the site works? Is it a private site that you set up and therefore you can close at any time you want?
I totally appreciate everything you've done, I think I''m just in Shock! I love the site and didn't realise it could end just like that..
Please forgive my naivety.
Best, Joe.

I only met you only the once but that was enough to see what a fine chap you are. ERE has " changed" over the years, for the worse i would say, so it seems the right thing to do. And, your wise wife is quite right, IT IS ONLY A GAME. Enjoy your family and new i-pad

I would like to thank you very much for the many years of enjoyment you have given me since the paper version of ERE.
I know at times that I, along with many others on ERE have spoken total b0££0cks over the years but thats what made it fun.
ERE will be missed by the wider rugby community.
Three cheers for Glen.
Hip, hip hooray,
Hip, hip hooray,
Hip, hip hooray.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chatting about Bath on Twitter? Use the #COML hash-tag or #BATHFAMILY so we can find each other!

Thank you Glen for staying as patient as you have been especially over the last few days. There are some people on here that should hang their heads....but the sadness is that they won't be in the slightest bit bothered.
Can someone else take over under your stewardship or is that inviting another Malco scenario?
Whatever...enjoy your new Erefree life

Great sadness that this is happening, but I will take all the good memories from this community: the Moz matches, the Fat Blokes 7s, the Friday afternoon parties on here and meeting up with some great people at the Rec because of it all.

I think its the right decision Glen - times have changed a lot since the original magazine and then forum. I'm not sure whether its me that's changed since the days of queuing for hours for cup tickets and other long gone memories, or the club, or the whole concept of club rugby. However change it certainly has and maybe its time for those who are young, fresh and unjaded to take the lead from those of us old and cynical from having been through it all. I had been thinking only this morning that maybe I should knock Ere on the head for a while. Maybe I need a season watching the United side rather than the firsts to rekindle the joy of watching rugby being played just because.

My thanks for all your efforts over those years and hope the time this decision frees is richly blessed with time for family and fun.

Very sad, Glen, but I suppose you could sense that it wasn't going to get better. We as supporters have been through very tough times recently, the most difficult I can remember, but then I joined ERE at the bottom when Bath had only just missed getting relegated so always felt things would get better if only we hung in there.

Thanks for the opportunities to meet other Bath Rugby supporters, the wonderful feelings which resulted in the original Moz Match, our communications with the late Annie Wannenburg from SA, Junkyard Dog's contribution, especially the early FB'7s, the banter, humour and wit and the forthright discussions - we all have different views and reasons for supporting Bath, but even I have felt over the past months that what divided us had become greater than that which united us.

All the best to you, Lyn and the wider family Leat.

Adoptee for 2017/18 James Phillips - newly arrived and bringing a wealth of experience in the Prem!

I am sorry you feel the need to close ERE and I understand some of your reasons.

I have just begun to post on the site but have I have watched it for a while. I do however think that the positives that this site delivers far outweighs the negatives.

You will always have negative posters as well as those who can't readily acept the opinions of others without it getting personal. Thats what free speech is about IMO.

If this site does close then I fear that many Bath fans will be well and truly in the dark.

I am not directly connected to the club other than being a paying punter, I have no other sources for information. The only time the club communicates with me is through the offy or via a survey. Often the survey is self serving and the benefit is one way i.e "would I like to pay for my ST in installments" or "Why did I not buy more tickets for the pointless game on a Friday night in the rain"

The ERE site is packed with rumours from some that are connected to the club. Its amazing how so many topics first seen on ERE turns out to be true. It is the only place where we can say what we think and where the club can see our thoughts.

The club closed the offy site last year. I think it was because of the nagative comments and leaks from within. We live in an age where information is readily available and communicated quickly and easily yet the club closes the opportunity to really communicate with us as it is too open for them.

ERE is the only site that I know of that tells it as it is and it does influence the management team.

Was the recent forum made into a free event because of comments on ERE? I thought is was a huge misjudgment on behalf of the club to charge for this. I also thought EREites pointed that out.

I'm not a journalist but I think you are and if that is the case and you have had enough then we ned to find a way to keep some kind format going. Can you help with a transition?

Very sad - but entirely understandable. It has increasinlgy become a platform for a few individuals to parade their egos - unfortunately the emotional age of those involved struggles to get beyond 13 3/4 (with apologies to Adrian Mole).

That special ERE mix of informed comment and wry humour has been elbowed to one side for some time.

I still have some printed EREs from the 1990s to remind me of what Glen created ever so successfully. Thank you.

Sad days Glen but I understand why. Must admit I have of late stood back and watched as ERE seemed to implode into needless and inane arguements, which I will admit stopped me posting as much as I used to.

As with all above, sad to see that it's become so much of an issue; but completely understand your reasoning.
All the best to you and yours Glen, and the rest of the mods who will soon have far too much time on their hands to know what to do with.

Hamptonite says it all for me but I would like to say a very special thank you to you Glen. You encouraged me to contribute when I first took some stick, and for that I thank you and I still have many editions of the paper 'ERE' which I still refer to from time to time.

Thanks very much indeed for all you time. efforts and fortitude over the years Glen, I will now have to find something else to do for 3 hours a day (so Lady Ovalballer accuses me of ) and you and the site will be missed very much indeed. I do understand that your family has now grown and this must take priority over anything else you do!

The fans owe you a great deal Glen and you will never be forgotten!

Like lots of things at Bath Rugby, things are a changing and not always for the best although I for one sincerely hope smoeone else can pick uop the reins and lead us to the brighter future we all want.

I have only become aware of ERE in the last three years so am a comparative newcomer, and while I did find some of the debate on here rather personal and irrelevant, like others it had become my "go to" site for news that had yet to appear anywhere else and a place to discover if others were sharing my same feelings of frustration or joy after a game.

You have clearly gone above and beyond for many years in maintaining this site in various forms and I am not sure if there is an appropriate way in which we can all thank you, but I hope that for now you will take pride from the great reactions of everyone who has commented on this thread. great job!

Hi Glen
I am Very sad to see that you are closing ere.
It has been a source of amusement, information and interest for me since the beginning. It has kept a link with home for me as I have travelled the world.

Please enjoy your 'retirement' and I hope you keep your obvious love for all thing blue back and white
Dave ( not always lost)

haven't posted much these past few years but when i have dropped in i must confess seeing lots of @#$%& which would not fly on other forums i am a member of (and moderator of), so i can see how tiresome it must have got

i realise you have had enough, but would you not be able to pass on the mantle to the other current mods? or is it a question of you wishing to retain the intellectual property rights ie the ERE name etc etc?

i'm just not sure why the whole show has to close, or why it can not be more aggressively moderated?

It was a pleasure to be a part of ERE and particularly to meet with you and many others in the early days when rugby always appeared to be at the top of our agenda.

Enjoy your lovely, expanding family and many thank you's to Lyn too, for bolstering you and putting up with the angst that ERE must have introduced to the Leat household.

It will be a privilege to buy you a beer when we next meet.

Thank you again for your enormous contribution to the lives of Bath rugby supporters and the formation of a unique site, that has created weddings, major moves to Bath AND babies!!!! Scary legacy, huh?!!! xx

Looks to have a theme common with the "not renewing next season" thread.

Thank you Mr Leat. This site has been my first point of reference for the last 5 years although, as others have said, it's become a haunt for barrack room lawyers of late. If your decision makes us all think again as to really what this site was for then that can only be a good thing.

I've not posted for many years (since the debacle after Glen first gave up the reins), but still lurk, as this is my first choice source of news on performance (or lack of), transfers, Rec development and pretty much anything related to Bath Rugby.

Its a shame its come to this, but the reasons are clear enough to all. Thanks for all the efforts Glen and the recent mods. Hopefully some sort of pheonix will rise from the flames so I can get my fix of the goings on down at the Rec.

I have only been contributing here for about a year having mainly based my previous time on the now defunct offy,that closed in the reinvigoration of the Bath Rugby site, the reason that closed was down to the club not being able to vet what people put on there and that could have legal implications.
ERE has been a welcome source of info and a lot of knowledgeable people, who have a love of Bath Rugby..I shall miss the immediate news updates from those of use that support Bath from afar and don't have the opportunity to discuss subjects Bath,in Bath. The offy is well and good but for immediate discussion i always refer to ERE..
That said some of the posters have clearly ruined it for the vast majority..
However to Glen the Ed i offer my thanks, always a reasonable voice, in what is an intimidating bear pit at times,

Sad to read this but not entirely surprised; I've enjoyed many a discussion on here over the years and met some lovely people but my visits over the past 12 months have reduced - such a shame that the minority have spoilt it for the majority.

A big thanks to Glen, CC and lots of others for their great work over the years.

Bye bye ERE - hope to see you all (no trolls please!) over on Twitter @bathbird10

Glen, Can't believe its such a long time since the excellent mag you and Clive were producing that became compulsory reading in our house. My sentiments match with so many on this post tonight. I used to enjoy putting the occasional comment on but over the last year, have become very reluctant to do so. It became obvious that any divergence of opinion from that of a small group of people would mean that you were ridiculed and made to feel out of touch at best and a poor supporter of the club which actually means so much to so many of us. You are doing the right thing but what a crying shame that a group of voluable, negative and egotistical few have ruined it for so many. I shall really miss the daily dip in.

Very sad to see this happen Glen, but agree with all the others, you have done a stirling job!

I properly became aware of ERE when the Offy closed, and up until recently really enjoyed it (but did not post much), however, of late, all the childish infighting, name calling and back biting has really p****d me off and runied my enjoyment of the site. Needless to say, I totally agree with your decision to 'up sticks'!

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